The Opelousas courier., 1887-10-01
A Trip to Colorado.


On Thursday night, Sept. 8, in company
with Gen, Leon Jastremski and wife, of Baton
Kouge, MIR. A. j. Lafargue, of Marksville, and
Mr.. L. Sambela jones, of Baton Rouge we de-
parted by the Mississippi Valley route for
Denver, Colo, to attend the third annual meet
ing of the National Editorial Association, con
vened for Sept. 18th. At Ethel, our pleasant
party was joined by Dir. Thos. S. Jones, of
jackson, La. who proved to be q
most invaluable accession thereto, and
whose aptitude for acquiring information
was unanimously declared phenomenal.
The Dr. is, leading physician in
his parish and a prominent member of our
State Senate; and his life, now past its meri-
dian, may be reackoned very fair success.
But he had not been among us long before the
conclusion was reached, nem. con, that he had
mE~sed his vocation and that as II newspaper
man he would have achieved "a nre-eminent
position and imperishable fame.
Memphis, 366 miles from Baton Rouge, was
reached on Friday morning; and the follow
ing morning we pulled into Kansas City, 48S
miles from Memphis. Our two hours stay at
this thriving, bustliDg place was spent in view
ing the many strange and novel sights visible
on every hand. Everywhere could he seen
new and stylish buildings just completed and
many more in course of construct Our
ride on the cable road which carried us as if
by magic over the beautiful hills on which
much of the city is built, afforded us an excel
"the boom" was on the place, snre enough,
and that it will soon become formidable ri
val to the great cities of the West. The pop
ulation is variously estimated at from 100, 900
to 100000, and is rapidly increasing.
The 639 miles which separate Kansas City
from Denver were travelled over in less than
% hours, and Sunday morning found us in the
Queen City of the Plains" We had travers-
ed during that time the entire State of Kan
sas from east to west and onethird of the
State of Colorado; we had crossed the "Great
American Desert p" of twenty-five or thirty
years ago-that arid, sandy, almost treeess
| plain lying east of the Rocky mountains and
extending nearly to the Missouri rivera des
ert now no longe thanks to mans pluck, per-
severance and ingenuity; for the line of the
Union Pacific and that of the Atchlson, Tope-
ka and Santa BE X. r., further to the SOnth,
are dotted with farms and towns, all plenti-
| fully supplied with water drawn from wells
| by the tireless windmill. These arid plains
only need irrigation to yield bountlful crops
| aud in those portions of Colorado adjacent to
| irrigation system is reaching its high
| est development. Hence it is that
| among the agricultural states there none
| with q better record than Colorado. Here
every species of plant life known to modern
cultivation fourishes; wheat, oats, buekwheat,
barley, rye, corn, cane, broom corn potatoes,
alfalfa, clover, millet, garden vegetables, and
fruits of every description flourish far beyond
the degree attained in eastern states. Forty
bushels of wheat per acre is only fair crop,
while sixty bushels have frequently been rails
i ed Oats WELD as high as seventy five bush.
els, potatoes three hundred bushels, clover
and alfalfa yield about ten tons of hay aud
ten bushels of seed per acre, and everything
else in the same proportion
In Larimer county, for instance, there are
less than loo, 900 acres of land under cultiva'
tion yet this produces annually over one mil
lion bushels of grain and from 30, 900 to 40 600
tons of hay, besides vast quantities of other
produce.
There are three principal streams flowing
through the farming portion OF LarImer coun
ty; the Cache La Poudre, the Big Thompson
and the Little Thompson from these there
are 227 600 cubic inches of water appropriated
which is sufficient to water about DOE, 900 acres
of land, and as there are only about 100 ,00s
acres now under cultivation it will readily be
| seen that agricultural resources are but hal
developed. To convey this water to the lands
hundreds of miles of irrigating bitches have
been built and are now in excellent running
order, so that farming is no longer an expert
Sent The expenses OF irrigation, about >,
per acre, are merely nominal compared will
the advantages derived from it. The farmer
has absolute control of the moisture
for his rNcrops. wet season is
blessing to the farmer but dry one is not tt
be dreaded, because during the season whel
water is needed, June and July, all that i
necessary I0r Tue Ihrln6f Go 40 iS To falSe ln'
! .headgaten and turn the water on his thirst,
crops, the amount being absolutely within hi
control This is one of the secrets of uniforml.
large crops raised here. Another advantag
: given by the climate is the length OF the sea
! sons; plowing can be done almost the yea
? around The usual custom is to quit plowin
: from the first to the tenth OF January and t
2 commence again about the Goth of February
while it is often possible to plow during th
whole of January and February.
S1he southern and eastern farmer will b
!, surprised at the absence of barns in Colorado
J A barn for the storing of grain and hay is III
: known Hay is usually stacked in the corra
J, where it keeps bright and sweet for u yeal
: there bethg no soaking rains to cause it to re
= or mildew. 1T grain is stacked at all, 1t keeI
perfectly. Such a thing as grain sproutng
. the stack is absolutely unknown. The usus
!, manner is that as soon as the grain is cut an
= shocked, tu take threshing machines out |
2 the middle OF th., field and then with half
q dozen wagons haul the grain direct from th
= shock thus avoiding the expense of stacking
In this manner two thousand bushels of graf
Il arc often tbreshed in day.
. During the past, grain has been, and to
8 cestain extent still is: the principal crop, br
j th4 is rapidly being changed, more attentiu
4. being paid To fruit culture.
Next week we will give some account
:. what we saw i'm Denver and the neighborir
I. :. towns which we visited before henetratii
T. the heart of the Rockies ON broad-gaus
,e railroad. .
y ERmRaRsH Roads,